Nintendo’s stake in Rare was sold to Microsoft in 2002. However, history almost went down a different path.

Xbox co-creator Ed Fries told IGN that Nintendo’s stake almost went to Activision. Activision outbid Microsoft originally, and it seemed like the latter company would lose the deal. Microsoft ended up increasing its offer at the last minute though, which allowed them to acquire Rare.

Fries’ full words are in the following video:

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SEGA released a new trailer for Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice today. It’s in Japanese, but new footage is shown. You can view it below.

More: Sanzaru Games, SEGA, Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice

The file size is in for Ziggurat, Milkstone Studios’ dungeon-crawler/first-person shooter. The game requires right around 400MB of space. It’ll be out in Europe on Thursday, and North America soon after that.

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Data analytics company Fancensus has offered further insight into E3 buzz with a new video sent out today. It reinforces the success that Zelda: Breath of the Wild experienced having been the most talked about game on Twitter, the most website coverage received, and most front page website placement. Aside from Zelda, Nintendo was one of the most viewed YouTube channels.

Here’s the full recap from Fancensus:

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More: E3 2016, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Downloads for The Battle Cats POP! in Japan have exceeded 400,000 units, PONOS has announced. It originally launched in Japan last May.

Meanwhile, the game is making its debut in the west today. The game can now be purchased from the 3DS eShop.

More: PONOS, sales, The Battle Cats POP!

Tadpole Treble debuted on Steam at the beginning of May. Now Wii U owners are curious as to when the game will appear on the eShop.

Earlier this month, developer BitFinity provided an update on Kickstarter. There’s unfortunately been a bit of an issue with one of Tadpole Treble’s features, which has been causing issues with lot check and a later-than-anticipated release. It seems that the functionality has been cut for the time being, but BitFinity hopes to add it in later through an update.

The full notice from BitFinity reads:

Of course, the question in mind for many of you is regarding the Wii U version’s release date. To be straight up, we’re having quite a bit of difficulty passing through lot check, and it turns out that one of our extra features has been making this task particularly difficult. Unfortunately, this may result in us having to cut that feature for the Wii U version, although we’re already attempting to find a way to patch it back in post-release! But since it’s a major reason why it’s taken the Wii U version longer to get through, we had to make a difficult decision on whether to delay the game further, or just try to work it in as a patch so that people can still play the game sooner.

Here’s the good news: it’s still happening. It might be coming in Summer 2016 instead of Spring now, but we’re still making it our biggest priority. I’m a Wii U owner and lifelong Nintendo fan, and I know the sting of companies (or Kickstarters!) canceling the Nintendo version out of the blue. We’re not going to do that to you! The Wii U will have Tadpole Treble. I didn’t come this far to not have my game on a Nintendo system, by gum! WE’RE MAKING IT HAPPEN. NO MATTER HOW MUCH IT DETERIORATES OUR SANITY!!

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Update (6/27): Bumped to the top. MixedBag Games sent out a few more tweets, confirming cross-buy with Wii U.

Original (6/26): MixedBag Games recently brought Futuridium EP Deluxe to Wii U, with a New 3DS version planned for the near future. The studio is also still working on forma.8, which is now confirmed for New 3DS as well. If that wasn’t enough, a game for all 3DS systems is planned as well.

MixedBag told one fan on Twitter today:

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More: forma.8, indie, MixedBag

A new trailer has come online for the third Yo-kai Watch movie, which is known as Yo-kai Watch The Movie: The Great Adventure of the Flying Whale and the Double World. Watch it below.

As you can see, the new film will feature both animated and live-action parts. It’ll open in Japan on December 17.

More: Level-5, movie, Yo-kai Watch

Check out some screenshots of this week’s European Nintendo Downloads:

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Update: Another new feature will be Star Accounts – these are “notable” Miis that will visit you and allow you to hear (and star) their answers. These will presumably be Nintendo developers, celebrities and the like. However, this feature will only be available if your phone’s location is set to Japan. It is not known at the moment if this feature will be added to other regions as well at a later point.

This coming week, Miitomo should have a new update. Nintendo provided a preview about what it has in store today.

Users can look forward to the following:

– Share recent news at any time when you talk with your own Mii character
– Tap links in answers and comments to open them in a browser
– The cap on popularity level and style level will be raised to 30
– More options for sharing or sending invitations
– Mexico, Switzerland, and South Africa will be available as country setting options
– Additional optimizations and bug fixes are also planned

Miitomo will be distributed in Mexico, Switzerland, and South Africa starting on June 30. Expect the update to drop around then.

Aside from the update news, new items are out now in Miitomo. Here’s the full lineup:

– Nautical bucket hat
– Polo shirt w/ emblem
– Denim shorts
– Ribbed lace knee-highs
– Leather crisscross sandals
– Shooting star pin
– Cow hood
– Cow suit

Via

More: Miitomo, title update